Dr. I.P. Park explains LG’s AI-first strategy

LG makes a lot of products. So many, in fact, that the South Korean company’s nearly half-dozen subsidiaries — LG Electronics, LG Uplus, LG Innotek, LG Chem, and Zenith, to name a few — semi-autonomously handle research, development, testing, and manufacturing full stack. Just a sampling of the electronics in its portfolio might include televisions, refrigerators, ovens, smartphones, home security cameras, computer monitors, and microwaves — and that’s just scratching the surface. The unifying thread is artificial intelligence (AI). About a year ago, LG announced DeepThinQ, an overarching AI platform designed for mobile devices, smart home products, and robotics solutions. A few months later, in June 2017, it opened a lab in South Korea with the goal of bringing its research in computer vision, voice recognition, and natural language processing under one roof. Building on that foundation, LG today announced a new AI research and development lab in Toronto, Canada, the company’s second in North America. (The first is in Santa Clara.) The lab will fuel innovative AI software and hardware startups, LG says, and draw on expertise from the University of Toronto, the beneficiary of a “multi-million-dollar” AI investment fund. Over the course of the next five years, university researchers and academics will have the opportunity to “work collaboratively” with LG’s U.S. and Canadian AI teams. “We’re focusing on expanding our AI capabilities around the globe — in India, China, Japan, Finland, Russia, Europe, the U.S., Canda, and elsewhere,” Dr. I.P. Park, LG’s chief technology officer, told VentureBeat in an… [Read full story]